Either way, something has to take place between now and Feb. 21st. If they found a new home for the Ikea monkey, I'm sure BC can find a new home for Andrea.

ďThe saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.Ē - Martin Luther King

Sadly the Raptors won't get a good contract in exchange for a bad contract. Even Gay is a bad contract.

All the Raptors can hope for is someone better than Bargnani - which is not overly difficult to pull off.

Which might be a negative, because we'd have to take in players not good enough to get us over the hump - Wright, Hawes - good players steadily declining on big contracts - Boozer, Gasol, Gordon - or players who you don't know about, whether they will re-sign or even be a contributor for the long-term - Ilyasova, Millsap.

Obviously there are positives there, and they most likely would be solid for our team, but with the above mentioned, it seems to really outweigh some other factors.

Have you seen the last 2 games with 18 and 12 minutes? It can and will get worse I am afraid.

Sure, it can always get worse. It probably won't though. The only way it could get worse is if he plays like crap and Casey keeps him on the floor. Seeing him get pulled last game after two poor defensive sequences in a row was fantastic - Casey did not tolerate any bull-shit lack of effort on the defensive end.

I'm past believing that Bargnani will put it all together and become a good defensive player. However, when he is playing at his best, he has significantly more value than right now. I don't think any of the players whose names we've seen in the media would bring much to the team, or, if they would the financial cost would be too high.

Ben Gordon - nope sorry, DeRozan, Ross, Fields.
Boozer - not with that contract. Amir is playing great. We possibly need an upgrade at PF, but I don't think Boozer is the guy.
Hawes - lol. Personal opinion, but I've never really liked him. I'd prefer to continue to develop Valanciunas and spell him off with Gray and Amir at the 5 occasionally (ie with Gay at 4).

As long as Bargnani is on a tight leash, I'm happy. He is being held accountable for his play. Much as many folks would like to deny it, if he keeps coming off the bench there are going to be games when he's feeling it and he will light up the other team's second unit. Bargnani hot is a top 20 offensive player - going up against scrubs it would be a massacre. Pipe dream would be for him to settle into this role. He won't. Realistically, he gets hot every once in awhile and becomes a more consistent threat. This brings his value back up and then we can trade him .

He doesn't have to go before the trade deadline as long as he isn't causing any harm. I'd say right now he isn't.

None of Gordon, Boozer, or Hawes are a perfect fit for Toronto, true. But Colangelo now has about four players he can call around about. "Not interested in Bargnani? Well, are you interested in any of these other guys I could flip to you?" I've always said that Bargnani's market is determined not by his play at any given moment - at this point everyone knows who he is, and a hot streak or cold streak won't change that - but by the number of teams interested in making a deal. Sometimes, selling high doesn't mean selling when a player is playing well, it means selling when there are a lot of other teams desperate to make a deal. This is especially true of players with a long history of streaky play.

If there are between 3 to 5 teams willing to make a deal for Bargnani (even if that deal is the other team's own overpaid or scrap-heap guys), that's about as active a market as Colangelo is ever going to find. He needs to spend the next few days turning over absolutely every rock looking for every ounce of value he can get back, anywhere in the league. I really do believe the time is now.

Ric Bucher's thoughts on the two most likely players to be traded: Josh Smith and ANDREA BARGNANI.

As we enter the final days before the NBA trade deadline, the two most notable names expected to be moved are Josh
Smith and Andrea Bargnani, according to league executives.

....

As for Bargnani, it's simply a matter of both Andrea and the Raptors needing a fresh start without the other. The Bobcats' rumor makes sense from the standpoint that the franchise would be hard-pressed to land a talent of Bargnani's level on the free-agent market.

Meh, I do think Bargs gets dealt...I assume he means the Bobcats' rumor makes sense for the Bobcats...?? It is probably the worst rumor I've seen from the Raps perspective. I think BC is just shopping around, maybe even seeing if he can turn some of the offers into new scenarios like multi-team deals.

Meh, I do think Bargs gets dealt...I assume he means the Bobcats' rumor makes sense for the Bobcats...?? It is probably the worst rumor I've seen from the Raps perspective. I think BC is just shopping around, maybe even seeing if he can turn some of the offers into new scenarios like multi-team deals.

Maybe the Cats take on Kleiza as well?

Plus one less year of dead contract?

Personally, any deal with Charlotte better have one of Detroit's or Portland's first round picks coming back.

My bad, I did misinterpret. If I'm reading correctly now, you meant Chicago has more garbage time in games. Of course... but how is that relevant? I have already accepted that Boozer is an upgrade over Bargnani. Will he contribute to Toronto being more competitive? Only if the Raptors insist on giving Bargnani significant minutes. But that's not conceding anything since there is a third option which I already mentioned.

Oh, that's impressive. So instead of seventh, he's been upgraded to essentially their worst starter and somehow, this is a point in his favour. Even if he were on the Raptors, there are players that should get playing time ahead of Boozer. I hope you realize you're advocating trading the worst player on the Raptors making $10 million a year for a bit player making $15 million a year. Neither player is really significant at all in the grand scheme of things, but one makes a more significant amount of money than the other. In a vacuum, of course I'd rather have Boozer than Bargnani. Nobody has really argued that one for one, Boozer is not a better player. But when neither player should really be seeing significant minutes on the floor, how does that help at all? You're acting like anybody wants to hold onto Bargnani; they (and I) would just rather not have a more expensive outcast instead.

Just because Bargnani makes eight figures does not mean the Raptors are obligated to give him time on the court. If he's hurting the team, logically, he should be seeing no floor time. If Boozer is a below average contributor, plug in an average contributor - and this is the key - that is already on the Raptors. No need to pay an extra $4+ million to bring one in.

And lol. Who's comparing "2 guys off court production across two different teams"? For someone who says facts are key, you sure do like to misrepresent and twist them. All I've said is Boozer is a consistently significant detriment defensively (yes, much like Bargnani), while not improving teams enough on offence to make up for it on both the Jazz and the Bulls.